The present invention relates to scuba gear and more particularly to scuba gear adapted for use by a diver to facilitate the diver's use of the gear.
Many modifications and variations of scuba gear have been provided in the prior art for facilitating use thereof by divers. Particularly in underwater situations, it is important for the diver to be able to rapidly and effectively manipulate the scuba gear either for providing an underwater source of oxygen to the diver or for permitting the diver to return to the surface, possibly under emergency circumstances. In the event that the diver desires or finds it necessary to return to the surface, the safety of the diver is of course of primary importance. However, it is of secondary importance that he be able to either keep the scuba gear with him as he returns to the surface or assure that the scuba gear will return by itself because of its relative expense.
As will also be apparent from the following description, it is often necessary for the diver to travel a relatively substantial distance either on or beneath the surface of the water in order to reach a selected diving site or to return from the diving site to the shore or to a boat or the like.
As is well known at least among those who commonly use such gear for underwater diving, the term "scuba" is an acronym for self contained underwater breathing apparatus. Scuba apparatus or gear commonly includes a tank containing compressed air in order to provide the diver with an underwater supply of oxygen. The tank is commonly mounted on the diver's upper torso or back by a suitable backpack. Scuba gear may also include a buoyancy compensator which the diver wears and can selectively inflate for various purposes.
Various combinations of such components have been described in the prior art, for example in Walters U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,616 issued Apr. 12, 1977; Scott U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,418 issued Dec. 4, 1979; and Roberts U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,140 issued July 24, 1973.
Of these references, the Scott patent disclosed apparatus of a type widely used, automatically or under diver control, for inflating scuba gear such as a buoyance compensator from the tank. Such equipment also commonly includes means for permitting the diver to manually inflate such buoyancy devices by blowing into a mouthpiece associated with the apparatus. The apparatus may also include emergency sources of compressed gas such as compressed carbon dioxide canisters or the like and may further be adapted with quick release couplings which in themselves are well known in the prior art. The Roberts patent also disclosed the use of such inflation apparatus with a quick release coupling for interconnecting a compressed air tank with a buoyancy compensator in the form of a life jacket. The life jacket disclosed in the Roberts patent is of a type fitting about the diver's neck and is sometimes referred to as a "horse collar" buoyancy compensator or life jacket.
The Walters patent disclosed similar scuba gear wherein an inflatable buoyancy compensator is secured to the compressed air tank and mounted on the diver's torso or back by the same backpack used for the tank. Through this combination, the diver can inflate the buoyancy compensator in order to adjust the effective underwater weight of the diver. As noted in the Walters patent, it is not always possible to accurately predict the amount of extra weight a diver must wear in order to achieve neutral or slightly positive buoyancy. Accordingly, life jackets or buoyancy compensators are commonly provided with inflation apparatus of the type referred to above wherein the diver can manually inflate the life jacket or buoyancy compensator as necessary in order to establish desired buoyancy.
As was further noted in the Walters patent, undesired negative buoyancy occurs for various reasons, such as when the weight of the diver changes between dives, and particularly when compression of plastic foam cells or the like in his wetsuit occurs at diving depths. In any event, because of the common backpack employed by Walters for the air tank and buoyancy compensator, the Walters buoyancy compensator was separated from the diver along with the tank and was thus no longer available as a personal safety device. Thereafter the Walters buoyancy compensator acted only as a flotation device for the tank. Thus, a diver using the Walters equipment could allow the tank to be carried to the surface by the buoyancy compensator and in an emergency could even use the combination of the buoyancy compensator and tank as a means for supporting himself on the surface of the water. However, it is again noted that the Walters buoyancy compensator would not be available to assist the diver in reaching the surface of the water and would not support the diver on the surface in rough seas or if the diver were unconscious, for example.
In addition to problems of the type referred to above and dealt with in the above patents, a diver using scuba gear of the type contemplated by the present invention can also encounter other problems. For example, in various underwater situations, it is not only necessary to provide flotation means for returning the tank and other scuba gear components to the surface but also to provide a buoyancy compensator for assisting the diver himself in returning to the surface. In the combination of the Walters patent, it is noted again that the buoyancy compensator remained permanently attached to the tank and thus was not available for assisting the diver.
Furthermore, there are numerous situations where it is important for the diver to have transport means available for removing himself from the water. For example, when a diving site is selected which is some distance from the shore or from a boat used by the diver, it is necessary for the diver to travel either along the surface of the water or under the surface of the water to the diving site and to return after completion of the dive.
Return trips of this type are sometimes difficult because the diver may be exhausted from swimming against the current, or may be suffering for example from hypothermia or even from injury resulting for example from a laceration by coral, sea urchins or jelly fish or the like. In such situations, it is accordingly important to provide transport means capable of supporting the diver out of the water, as well as to increase visibility in search and rescue efforts.
Accordingly, there has been found to remain a need for improved scuba gear capable of facilitating desired operation of the gear by the diver both underwater and on or near the surface of the water.